What is the first step in creating an online business strategy?
As a modern entrepreneur that wants to build your own online business, which are the first steps you should consider when constructing an online business strategy?
The strategy for creating an online business is not just a successful business model that allows you to work steadily and survive in the digital marketplace. A competitive online business strategy is a tool for long-term optimal profitability of an online business.
Many people dream of owning a successful online business, but not everyone knows where to start and how to properly develop an online business. In this article, I will try to answer the question of the first steps in creating an online business strategy and share a few ideas with beginners on how to start an online business.
MEANING ONLINE BUSINESS STRATEGY
You can call any program or plan a strategy. But for an online business, the strategy is a plan that should lead the online business to profitability.
An online business strategy cannot be separated from the concepts of online business efficiency and profitability. So, an online business strategy is;
- A way of obtaining a sustainable advantage in profitability
- A matter of long-term viability of an online business
- A tool for optimal competitiveness and maximum efficiency
For short, the strategy for building an online business explains how the business, when faced with competition and other challenges will remain profitable and achieve the goals set by the entrepreneur who established it.
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN CONSTRUCTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS STRATEGY
So, What is the first step in creating an online business strategy?
Your online business strategy is simply a strategy for competition. So, competition is the first thing you should have in mind when building an online strategy.
What is competition? And how can you win in the competitive struggle of the digital space?
Most online businesses and digital entrepreneurs in the competitive struggle for clients prefer the strategy of choosing the most profitable niche and becoming the best in it.
They want to set goals and win their goal at any cost, even if it means destroying their rivals. The main focus of attention in such strategies is achieving set targets in terms of sales volumes, marginality, profitability per transaction, etc.
If all online businesses in the same niche implement the same strategy, this will inevitably lead to a collision whereby everyone online business is chasing the same customers, copying each other’s plans and implements them.
This will teach the client to always make a choice based on the price and then online businesses will start losing profit in the price war (the kind that happens during Black Friday sales) and begin to struggle.
Most online businesses that compete by offering discounts find it difficult to succeed in the long term.
Can beginners even compete with discounts? That online business will have a high chance of failing.
The optimal strategy for online business development will be to follow a path that is different from that of your competitors.
The essence of a truly competitive and effective online business strategy is to create unique value.
The market responds to it with the growth of your target audience. And this, as a result, gives a profitable online business.
WHAT INFLUENCES ONLINE BUSINESS PROFITABILITY?
To build a strategy, you need to analyze the following factors that influence profitability in the digital marketplace
- Your Subscribers – They want more value for less.
- New competitors – They will copy you
- Those who offer alternatives – They reduce your market share
- Your Suppliers – They want to give you less value for more money
- Existing Competitors – They break the bridge after crossing the river
Since your online business strategy will only be effective only if it takes into account the risks that arise from the influence of the above-mentioned factors.
I consider unique value as the first step you should consider when constructing an online business strategy.
Try to adopt all the processes in the consumer value chain to your unique value proposition.
A value proposition that not only describes what you offer but also demonstrates a creative approach, favorably distinguishes your brand from competitors.
FINAL THOUGHT ON CONSTRUCTING AN ONLINE BUSINESS STRATEGY
To implement a competitive strategy, you need to form your unique value using methods that are not the same as those of competitors. Or you can offer the same value but in a different way.
There are many opportunities to act differently in the links of the value chain: in sales, production, post-sales experience, etc.
To learn more about creating a unique selling point, I recommend UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION, a free online course offered by HP Life.
Thanks for reading my piece on steps you should consider when constructing an online business strategy.
Cheers!
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